Former President Clinton also part of effort to promote energy, investment for reservations

Jun. 20, 2013

South Dakota tribes see development potential in a joint venture to harness wind power. / AP file photo

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Bill Clinton

About Sioux Wind

WHAT: An effort to build a huge wind project on South Dakota reservations. WHO: Six South Dakota tribes — the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate and Yankton Sioux Tribe —with support from former president Bill Clinton’s Clinton Global Initiative, the Bush Foundation, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and the law firm Arent Fox, among other organizations and companies. HOW BIG: The proposed project would have a capacity of 1,000 megawatts of electricity or more from hundreds of wind turbines. That’s more than the 784 megawatts of capacity by all existing South Dakota wind farms combined, and close to the 1,609 megawatts produced by all Missouri River dams in South Dakota. WHEN: Details of the project, which have been being negotiated for years, were unveiled last week. The preconstruction phase is estimated to take up to two years if delays do not arise. Building the wind turbines could take as little as a year, or more, while building new transmission lines could take up to a decade if necessary. WHY: Supporters say Sioux Wind will bring much-needed money to impoverished native tribes, lower power costs on reservations, provide some jobs and set a model for inter-tribal cooperation.

Online

• Watch video of Bill Clinton introducing the project • Get more from David Montgomery in his blog “The Political Smokeout” @ARGUSLEADER.COM

Brandon Sazue

Byron Dorgan

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Brandon Sazue says winds of opportunity are blowing over South Dakota reservations.

The chairman of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe is one of six tribal leaders who have joined forces with each other and with former President Bill Clinton to promote an ambitious wind power project on South Dakota reservations.

The aim of Sioux Wind is to build hundreds of wind turbines on tribal land across the state at a cost of up to $3 billion, generating at least 1,000 megawatts of electricity and transmitting it to major cities. If it all works out, tribes get cheap power and income they can use to meet other needs.

“It’ll have a big impact,” Sazue said. Between bolstering inter-tribal cooperating, improving their revenues and lowering electric bills, “everything’s all good,” he said.

Clinton was even more effusive, sharing the stage last week in Chicago with tribal leaders such as Oglala Sioux Tribe president Bryan Brewer at an event for his nonprofit, the Clinton Global Initiative.

“The potential of this is staggering,” Clinton said. “This is an amazing thing, and if it works, there are a lot of other tribal lands and a lot of other tribes out there who will be able to take this and make their contribution to our country’s future in a way that enables them finally to have a nongovernment-ready cash source that will enable them to build a whole different economic future for their children and for the future of our country.”

But Clinton’s “if it works” could end up being the key phrase for the whole idea. Building all those wind turbines is costly, and building transmission lines to get that power to Minneapolis and Chicago could cost even more. Despite backing from Clinton and an array of big entities, the Sioux Wind project could meet the same sorry fate as previous attempts to harness tribal wind.

“When anybody says they’re going to build a wind project in South Dakota and it’s more than a gigawatt, I have to chuckle,” said Steve Wegman, an analyst for the South Dakota Renewable Energy Association. “You know how many times we’ve been down this road? A lot. It’s a nice dream, but that’s not how reality is done.”

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Wegman called the Sioux Wind plan almost identical to a 1994 proposal that didn’t go anywhere.

“I’ve watched too many of these failures,” he said.

Transmission issues

Supporters of Sioux Wind said they have learned from past mistakes.

“All of it is potentially doable,” said Byron Dorgan, a former U.S. senator from North Dakota who is advising the project as part of the Arent Fox law firm. “It takes time. It’s challenging work to build a major project, but they get built all the time.”

Under the framework for Sioux Wind, the six tribes will join together in a multitribal power authority to sell bonds to help pay for much of the project and negotiate buy agreements to sell the generated electricity.

In theory, tribal lands are great for wind turbines.

“The reservations have excellent wind resources, and they have the room and the space to do it,” said Ron Rebenitsch, executive director of the South Dakota Wind Energy Association.

But the problem is getting the power from where it’s generated to where it’s consumed. Rebenitsch said building high-voltage power lines can cost more than $1 million per mile.

“The tribes, if they need to send the power somewhere that it can be used, will have the same types of issues as most wind farms that can be developed in the Dakotas,” said Beth Soholt, executive director of the nonprofit organization Wind on the Wires, which works on wind power transmission issues. “How (transmission lines) get decided and who pays for them will be the primary issues that get addressed.”

Dorgan said the sheer size of Sioux Wind can be the solution.

“You’ll have the opportunity for a project of this size to explore other transmission plans and using some of the existing transmission, perhaps building some transmission,” Dorgan said. “The project is big enough to justify that.”

Wegman doesn’t see the size of Sioux Wind as an advantage.

“To eat an elephant, you eat one bite at a time. You do not swallow the entire elephant,” he said. “Doing any renewable project is the same way.”

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Existing power lines

The project could get a boost from existing power lines carrying electricity generated by Missouri River dams. The Western Area Power Administration, the federal agency that sells Missouri River hydroelectric power, has “available transmission capacity” in South Dakota, though perhaps not enough for a 1,000 megawatt project such as Sioux Wind, WAPA spokesman Randy Wilkerson said.

A 2005 study suggested WAPA had about 100 megawatts of extra capacity on its lines, though Wilkerson cautioned that figure is unreliable because of project-specific variables and upgrades to the lines since then.

But Wilkerson said WAPA has been in close negotiations for tribes in many projects and sees opportunity in combining wind power — potentially large, but unreliable — with the steady output of hydropower.

Building long-distance power lines could take a while.

Turbines that can generate “1,000 megawatts could be built in a year” if everything works well, Rebenitsch said. “Transmission lines typically take a decade or longer.”

The preconstruction stages of Sioux Wind will take 18 to 24 months, Dorgan said. That includes raising money, studying wind patterns, signing agreements and making arrangements for the construction.

“These things don’t happen overnight,” he said.

Economic effect

If Sioux Wind does overcome all the obstacles to become a reality, supporters and some analysts see big things.

“The economic effect would be huge, and very beneficial,” said Rebenitsch, whose South Dakota Wind Energy Association isn’t involved with Sioux Wind but will offer the project assistance. “You’d be bringing in major revenue streams to a very impoverished area of South Dakota.”

The project is structured so the tribes, not outside companies, will maintain ownership of the wind turbines. Bonds to pay for Sioux Wind will be against the project, not the tribes.

Though profits from the wind turbines could be used for economic developmenton reservations, the Sioux Wind project itself isn’t expected to create many permanent jobs. Plenty of temporary work will be available in the construction, and Dorgan said at least some of that probably will be done by local employees.

A successful Sioux Wind also could be imitated by other wind-rich tribes.

“If this project gets completed, it is a new model for Indian tribes to work together to produce larger projects,” Dorgan said.

Clinton called the project “one of my favorite commitments” from his nonprofit.